Aug 1, 2012

24FPS' Top 100 Films: The Full List

Just to be clear, I absolutely intend on writing about all of these films, but am publishing the full list today to coincide with the new Sight and Sound poll. As for whether these are the best films or my favourites; here's something I wrote when I started this list.

Many movie fans I know have two lists; Favourite movies and Best movies. Over the years many people have tried to explain to me the nuances of the difference they perceive between these two categories. Perhaps I’m a philistine, but the way I’ve always seen it is that they see a Favourites list as being for movies that entertain you, and a Best list as being for movies that are striking in their artistic achievement. I’ve never bought into this separation. For me a movie is judged by how it affects me, by its technical credentials (and how well they work for the movie) and by how well it achieves what it has set out to achieve. I don’t think a movie can hope to be listed among the great films I am about to begin listing without excelling in all those categories. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that a movie has to be a technical masterpiece to make the list, as long as its technical qualities serve the film. Neither version makes the list, but the two versions of Last House on the Left are perfect examples of this; the later film is much more technically sound, both in terms of camerawork and acting, but it is by far the less effective film.